FORMER prime minister John Howard has defended the often bombastic Twitter diplomacy of Donald Trump amid heightened tensions over North Korea.

Staff writers

News Corp Australia NetworkAugust 17, 201711:41am

Donald Trump has praised North Korea’s leader for backing off on plans to fire missiles toward the US Pacific territory of Guam. Picture: AFP.Source:AFP

FORMER prime minister John Howard has defended the often bombastic Twitter diplomacy of US President Donald Trump amid heightened tensions over North Korea.

Mr Howard, speaking to reporters at Old Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday, said he was glad Mr Trump had expressed his view that Kim Jong Un’s decision to postpone a nuclear strike on the US territory of Guam was ‘wise’.

“We’ve got to understand the principal elevator of the temperature has been the North Korean president and not the American president. This idea that somehow or other there’s an equivalence is ridiculous,” Mr Howard said.

Trump praised North Korea’s leader on Twitter by saying: “Kim Jong-un of North Korea made a very wise and well reasoned decision. The alternative would have been both catastrophic and unacceptable!”

Trump stunned the world last week by warning North Korea it faced “fire and fury” if it continued to threaten the US or its allies with its ballistic missile program.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump. Picture: AFP.Source:AFP

His impromptu comments while on vacation in New Jersey were interpreted as raising the prospect of a US nuclear attack against North Korea.

The unpredictable and isolated North Korean leader on Tuesday had been briefed by his missile forces on a “plan for an enveloping fire at Guam,” according to the North’s official KCNA news agency.

But afterwards, according to KCNA, he decided to postpone the operation to “watch a little more the foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees” and not to go ahead unless the US commits more “reckless actions.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson responds to a question about North Korea. Picture: AP.Source:AP

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said after Kim postponed the threat that Washington remains ready for talks.

But he added that would be up to Kim when such negotiations would begin